THE AFL has ticked off Carlton's handling of its concussion protocols during Sunday night's win over Essendon. 

Blues midfielder Adam Cerra was on the end of a high bump from Bomber Sam Durham in the second quarter of the King's Birthday Eve clash. Durham made contact with the head of Cerra when he chose to bump instead of tackle him while he was collecting a ground ball, leaving Cerra dazed on the MCG turf.

However, close to 15 minutes elapsed between the initial incident and the Blues medical staff making the call to bring him downstairs for a head injury assessment (HIA).

Cerra was assessed and cleared of concussion, however questions were raised if the Blues followed the correct protocols surrounding head knocks, but the AFL released a statement on Tuesday clearing the club of any wrongdoing.

"The AFL has reviewed the medical management of Adam Cerra following the contact with Sam Durham in the second quarter of Sunday night's match between Carlton and Essendon. AFL Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael Makdissi discussed the matter with Carlton's doctors," the statement read.

"Following the incident, Cerra was subject to on-field Head Injury Assessments and the doctors were comfortable that the player was not exhibiting signs of concussion and did not need to be removed from the field of play.

"However, following further video review prompted by the Discretionary Assessment Notification from the AFL Review Centre (ARC) doctors and out of an abundance of caution, Carlton's doctors determined to remove the player for Detailed Off-field HIA (including SCAT) which did not result in a diagnosis of concussion and Cerra played out the match. As per usual practice following any head knock, Cerra will be subject to monitoring this week.

"The AFL including Dr Makdissi are content that Carlton's Doctors managed Cerra following the incident consistent with the requirements of the AFL and AFLW Concussion Guidelines. To be clear, the ARC doctors did not observe probable concussion symptoms that would have triggered a Mandatory Detailed Off-field HIA (including SCAT) and the HIA Removal Process.

"Absent of probable concussion symptoms, club doctors are permitted to undertake on-field HIA's but at any time they may remove a player for an off-field HIA and/or a Detailed Off-field HIA (including SCAT), and to that end may remove a player via the HIA Removal Process if considered desirable and appropriate by them.

"The AFL encourages conservative medical management of head knocks and will, as always, continue to review and (where appropriate) revise our concussion guidelines to reflect advances in research and to optimise management to protect the health and safety of our players. We did that this season by the introduction of the HIA Removal Process which has been utilised several times already."

Durham copped a two-game ban for forceful front-on contact, with the match review officer grading it as careless conduct, high impact and high contact.